as America's leading "participatory journalist," and reflecting on the social ramifications of Plimpton's narrative perspective and the possible connec- tions between Plimpton's social back- ground and his subject matter, is hardly out of character for Zuckerman, a man whose life is books, not just writing them but uninterruptedly, over the de- cades, reading them and thinking about them. It is the news of Plimpton's death the year before-of which the reclu- sive Zuckerman was unaware-that prompts the longish rumination on Plimpton in the last chapter of "Exit Ghost" and that provides Zuckerman with an opportunity to ponder the radical difference between Plimpton's working days as a journalist occupa- tionally engaged by the "great variety of life" and his own as a novelist, con- ducted of necessity alone and in silent seclusion. And prompts him to reach this conclusion: "Suddenly," Zucker- man thinks, "my way of being had no justification, and George was my- what is the word I'm looking for? The antonym of doppelgänger." H.L.: One of the hauntings here is the haunting of "Exit Ghost" by "The Ghost Writer." I imagine, though I don't know this, that you reread "The Ghost Writer" while or before you were writing this book. P.R.: Actually, I reread "The Ghost Writer" after finishing the last draft of "Exit Ghost." I did that because I didn't want to have it so fresh in my mind that it might circumscribe the imaginative work at hand. And when I read it over I did so only cursorily, to be sure I'd gotten right certain facts about the past that are recalled by the characters in "Exit Ghost." I didn't see any reason to read it any more thoroughly. I don't like to reread my books; at this stage of the game I'd much rather spend my read- ing time-as I have been doing-revis- iting, for the last time around, other writers, like Conrad and Hemingway and Faulkner and Turgenev. H.L.: Nathan Zuckerman, talking about Lono tells Kliman that "writers can be shattered by writing." Can you say more about what he means, and what, in particular, this might mean in your own case? P.R.: Zuckerman is talking about a writer who during the last five years of BMW 2007 Night Vision bmwusa.com 1-800-334-4BMW The Ultimate Driving Machine" An idea you never saw coming. With our Night Vision technology, you can see potential hazards up to 328 yards ahead - in the dark. Using an infrared camera, objects in the road are displayed before you. It's another visionary idea from BMW. Learn more at bmwusa.com/ideas, @2007 BMW of North America, LLC, The BMW name, model names and logo are registered trademarks, ADVERTISEM ENT on the town BE THE FIRST TO HEAR ABOUT EVENTS, PROMOTIONS, AND SPECIAL OFFERS FROM NEW YORKER ADVERTISERS. THE NéW YORKER est ivai October 51617 . -- Tickets are now available at ticketmaster.com, at all ticketmaster outlets in the New York metropolitan area, or by calling 1.877.391.0545. / Please visit festival.newyorker.com to sign up / for official Festival Wire e-mails and to view the complete Festival guide. fI? /t? New York City The acclaimed literary and arts festival returns. Supported By llièrlev A NADA .+. THE NEW YORKER, OCTOBER I, 2007 61